morehead



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHAS. T. P. WARE, OF NEW YORK, Y., ASSIGNOR TO D.. C. MOREHEAD.

CLASP.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES TREAT PAINE WARE, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and improved mode of fastening boxes, cases, pocket-books, and any article to which a clasp of the kind invented by me can be applied, and which I call a spring-clasp lock; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction of a spring clasp, combining the advantages of simplicity, solidity, economy of time and labor in the manufacture, and facility of adjustment byany known means of securing said clasp in the position in which it is to be used.

To enable others to make and use my in vention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

I construct my clasp of any metal or article capable of producing the necessary spring upon the tongue, striking out its component parts by dies, .or. otherwise forming them.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1, A, represents the upper part of clasp, in one entire piece, including socket and laps; B, the lower part of clasp, including tongue and cross-piece; T, the tongue, operating as a spring; C, the cross-piece; L, L, the laps; S, socket, or space, into which C springs, after passing the laps. The dotted lines represent the edges of box or case. That the cross-piece may have the firmest possible hold (in cases where thin metal is desirable) I turn it over, as in Fig. 2, giving it free play between the edges of the'box when closed, so shaping it as to facilitate theoperation of the clasp, whether adjusted externally 0r internally to the article to which it is applied. That the two parts may close together with ease, I shape the laps, as in sides of cross-plece, they force it inward until it reaches S, into which it springs, as

seen in Fig. 3.

in Fig. 5, turning over about two thirds. of

the cross-piece, as in Fig. 6. The" clasp, when closed, is seen as in Fig. 7, the laps having passed in front of the cross-piece and behind a and 1) until cross-piece springs into socket, where it is held by the part lapped under, the clasp opening by pressure on the tongue.

For application to cases of very shallow capacity, I divide the tonguein such a manner as to obtain for it as much leverage of spring as may be desired, as seen in Fig. 8. What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The above described spring clasp-lock so constructed and arranged that the laps, L,

shall, when closing, depress the wide end,

C, of the tongue T, and allow it, at last to spring'outward into the enlarged space, S,

L, L,'so that, pressing against the inclined between and above the laps, where it is held firmly by the turned over end ,of thetongue,

or by the thickness of the metal itself, as in Fig. 4; and this I claim, whether used with the projections a, b, for the purposes above described, or without them.

1 I CHAS. T. P. WARE. Witnesses: p

JAMES F. SMITH, ALBERT YOUNG. 

